What to expect when 'Jericho' returns
Posted: Thursday, July 19, 2007 11:00 PM by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper
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TV
One of the most-anticipated panels at summer press tour, at least for me, was Thursday's "Jericho" discussion, featuring stars Skeet Ulrich, Lennie James, and Ashley Scott, and executive producer Carol Barbee. These are four people who, not that long ago, didn't expect to be here, and certainly didn't expect to be working together again. Yet thanks to persistent, dedicated fans who flooded CBS with e-mails and nuts, the show has been given a second life -- just seven episodes starting in January, but a second life nonetheless.
Barbee and the three stars were obviously very grateful to fans, perhaps a little shell-shocked (!), and willing to discuss the upcoming seven episodes, where the show plans to go, and what's next.
MAC WON'T BE BACK
Many fans were saddened by the death of Gerald McRaney's character, Mayor Johnston Green. But Barbee said McRaney's death had always been planned, in order that his son, Jake, could complete a sort of Prodigal Son arc and end up taking over for his father. Many fans had hoped against hope that the show would find a way to bring McRaney back, but it doesn't look good. His character is in fact dead, and he won't be appearing in any of the seven episodes coming up. (Should CBS dole out more than seven episodes, Barbee wouldn't rule out the chance of seeing McRaney's character, but in flashback only.)
THREE STORIES DOWN TO ONE
When Barbee hoped for a full season renewal, she and her writers had planned to combine three stories into one. They'd tell the story of Jericho, of course, but interweave them with scenes of the new Cheyenne, Wyoming government that's trying to start up, and also scenes in New York City, one of the few large cities that survived the bombings. (Viewers will remember that it was revealed early on that, thanks to New Yorkers' raised awareness of terrorism due to the Sept. 11 attacks, the city had managed to stop the bombers.)
But while the New York plot may not be seen, nor happenings in Cheyenne, the Cheyenne government will play a vital role in "Jericho." Barbee revealed that the season will begin with the Jericho-New Bern battle, and the Cheyenne government will show up to stop the fighting. The season will continue with the Cheyenners trying to help Jericho rebuild, and the town will "get back on the grid," Barbee said. Lights, power and communication will be restored. "And laundry!" chimed in Skeet Ulrich, noting that by the end of the season, the jeans his character wore could practically stand up by themselves. "We were a really smelly cast," added Lennie James.
The Cheyenne government will be "the good guys," said Barbee, but they'll also be an occupying force, and Jericho will have to deal with that issue, as well as revenge killings against and from New Bern.
Titus Welliver's character, Col. Robert Hoffman won't be back, but look for a similar character to be introduced. Sprague Grayden's Heather, however, will be returning for a few episodes.
I mentioned in my earlier post that Stanley and Mimi will get engaged, but Barbee warned that while that will happen, expect it to still have surprising elements. And she also said that much of the plot of the new episodes will revolve around "the mission that Hawkins and Jake have to do to save the world."
SOME GUY NAMED SKEET'S AT THE DOOR FOR YOU
Skeet Ulrich and cast were asked how they would thank the fans who saved the show. After a joke about Ulrich going door to door, DVDs of the first season in hand, they settled on a much more prosaic option: The cast may take out thank-you ads. (Those DVDs come out Oct. 2, by the way.)
ANOTHER RENEWAL?
The seven episodes will be shot by the end of September, so the cast and crew won't know by then if they'll get another chance after the new shows air. Barbee and her writers, then, have to write the seven shows as if they were both a stand-alone arc that could be the show's farewell, but also leave enough plotlines open and intriguing in case the network later calls for more. She says "What we're doing is we're arcing out an actual story that will have resolution, and there are personal arcs that will have resolution, but at the end of that, it will open you up to the next level so that you can see what that future would be if there's a season three, and hopefully there will be. So we hope to give you resolution, but then show you the future."
NEXT TIME, SEND STRIPPERS
One critic asked the panel if they'd have preferred something other than nuts as the fan item of choice. "Snakes," said Ulrich. "Strippers," said Lennie James. The Web site NutsOnline provided many of the nuts that were sent, and that made some of the cast think of a new money-making venture. James said cast members had joked about starting a Web site that could mail a certain foodstuff and then slipping a reference to that food into an episode to rake in the profits. Barbee's line/foodstuff suggestion? "That's bananas!"
